Gymnastics scoring: The definition of perfection - The Washington Post The definition of Perfection Not only is 10 no longer perfect, it's actually a lousy score these days. The definition of Perfection = Total Olympic gymnasts are now looking for high-15s and 16s, and perhaps (gasp!) an elusive 17 or higher. Getting the D score Every skill has a set point value — .01 (easiest) to .07 (hardest). Judges add up points for a routine's eight toughest skills (10 for men) plus “connection” points for stringing top skills together. Getting the E score Each judge starts at 10 and subtracts points for errors. (A tiny goof is -0.1; a fall is -1 point.) The highest and lowest scores are thrown out; the average of the other four is the E score. Tiebreakers In all-around, each athlete's lowest apparatus score is dropped. The gymnast who has the highest remaining total wins. In apparatus, the athlete with the highest execution score wins. U.S. team member Jordyn Wieber.

Floor exercise Men's and women's Men's routines consist mostly of tumbling elements — the higher the better — plus balance and strength moves. The women's routine combines graceful dance with raw power. Both men and women must use the entire floor. Case study: Shawn Johnson's routine at the 2008 Visa Championships. To get an idea of what judges look for, we asked Amanda Borden, gold medalist on the 1996 U.S. women's team, to take a look at a routine by Beijing silver medalist Shawn Johnson. USA Gymnastics | FIG Elite/International Scoring FIG Elite/International Scoring In 2006, the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) began using a new scoring system for men’s and women’s artistic gymnastics. The new system incorporates credit for the routine’s content, difficulty and execution, and a gymnast’s score no longer is limited to a maximum of 10. In the United States, the new system will be used at all elite level events. Women’s Junior Olympics (Levels 1-10) and collegiate gymnastics will use the previous system, while men’s Junior Olympics and collegiate gymnastics are using a modified version.

In addition to the new scoring mechanism, the FIG revised the Code of Points by re-valuing some skills and adjusting individual apparatus requirements. The changes to scoring and the Code were under study and discussion for more than a year. The FIG approved the revised Code and new scoring system during meetings in Baku, Azerbaijan, in October 2005. Although the basic process is the same for men and women, some differences exist between the two. Just like with other sports, the scoring system is expected to have minor adjustments in the coming months after it has been used at competitions. Also, the new artistic gymnastics scoring system is similar to those used in rhythmic gymnastics, trampoline and tumbling, and acrobatic gymnastics. The revised Code does include verbiage addressing score inquiries and the use of video review. Under the new system, a gymnast’s total score includes values for both the routine’s content and his/her execution. Basically, the new scoring procedure adds the Difficulty Score, which includes difficulty, connection value and element requirements, to the Execution Score, which encompasses execution, artistry, composition and technique, to determine a gymnast’s total score. Scores no longer have a maximum value of 10.

Difficulty Score: difficulty and technical content. The Difficulty Score represents what was previously known as the start value and includes difficulty and credit for connections (two high-level skills that are connected) and element group requirements, which are the basic categories of skills/elements that must be included in a routine. The element group requirements vary by apparatus. This score is determined by the A Panel, which is a two-person panel. The difficulty value is determined by totaling values for the 10 most difficult skills, which includes the dismount. Each skill has a set difficulty value, as outlined in the Code of Points, and for the women are divided into seven classifications, with six for the men. The difficulty value of a skill or element is not recognized if it fails to meet its technical requirements. Also, credit is also only given once for a skill. Connection value is awarded when specific skills or skill types are executed successfully in succession. The women can earn connection values for the balance beam, uneven bars and floor exercise, while the men can earn it for the floor exercise, still rings and horizontal bar. For men and women, each connection value is either 0.1 or 0.2 points.

Element group requirements are the basic skills or elements that must be included in each routine and vary by apparatus. This area is similar to the special requirements in the past. If all of the requirements are included, a maximum of 2.5 points is awarded. Each judge on the A Panel independently reaches his/her Difficulty Score and then the two compare and reach a consensus. After the score has been posted, a coach may inquire about the Difficulty Score, first verbally and then in writing. An inquiry may be resolved by using video review. The initial inquiry must be made prior to the completion of the next gymnast’s routine. The written inquiry must be submitted before the end of the rotation, and the Superior Jury reviews the inquiry. At FIG events, a fee is assessed for filing an inquiry; it is returned if the inquiry is upheld. Execution Score: execution, artistry, composition and technique. The Execution Score, determined by a six-person B Panel, now begins at 10 and deductions are made for errors and faults in technique, execution and artistry/composition. Each judge independently determines his/her score. The highest and lowest scores are dropped, and the gymnast’s Execution Score is the average of the remaining four judges’ scores.

Deductions for neutral errors are subracted from the sum of the Difficulty and Execution Scores. The deductions for various errors have changed and now range from 0.1 point for a small error to 0.8 point for a fall. Neutral errors include those for stepping out of bounds or violating time requirements, as well as attire or podium violations. Inquiries are not allowed on the Execution Score. Total score. The gymnast’s final score is the total of the Difficulty and Execution Scores less any deductions for neutral errors. Here’s an example on how the scoring is calculated. The example uses a woman’s routine. Difficulty Score Difficulty# (4C=4x.3, 4D=4x.4, 2E-2x.5) +3.8 points Element groups (5x0.5) +2.5 points Connection value^ +0.6 points Total Difficulty Score 6.9 points Execution Score* Total Execution Score 9.0 points Final score 15.9 points This explanation of the new scoring system reflects the set-up at FIG events, including the Olympic Games, World Championships and World Cups.

The number of members on the two panels may be different at events that are not conducted by the FIG, which is how it has been done in the past. The scoring mechanism and processes remain constant throughout, but the number of judges used on the panels may be changed. As the system is used, the FIG may make adjustments as needed, which has been done in the past with other changes. Although the “10” designation is no longer the top score, the new system enables fans to see what a gymnast has scored and how it was determined. The new system, in essence, is a new calculation of the previous pieces of start value, deductions and score. Scoring example Below is a scoring comparison of the new and old systems using Carly Patterson’s balance beam routine from the finals at the 2004 Olympic Games. This is only intended as an illustration to better demonstrate the differences between the two systems. Please note that this routine was constructed under the old system, and routines for the new code would not be constructed this way; this is intended only as a frame of reference. At the 2004 Olympic Games, Patterson’s routine scored 9.775 out of 10.0.

Explanatory details Front aerial, flic flac, back layout, step-out D, B, C (Acro Series) D+B+C (0.2) + (0.1) Front salto, sheep jump Dismount: Round-off, flic flac two feet, double Arabian salto B, B, G B+B+Super E (0.2)+ (0.2) Routine valuation for Difficulty Score Under the current system the top 10 difficulty elements are: Basic start value, 8.8 Full turn is not counted as one of the 10 difficulty elements but is an Element Group Requirement (EGR).

The routine would receive 2.0 out of a possible 2.5 for EGR Routines start at 8.8 base, plus 1.4 bonus with a maximum start value of 10.0 0.1 for front salto to sheep jump 0.1 for switch leap to back salto 0.2 for front aerial, flic flac, layout salto 0.2 for round-off, flic flac, double Arabian dismount No dance series, compositional deduction,0.3 Mount of no value, composition deduction, 0.1 Add the 0.4 compositional and the 0.3 execution deductions and subtract from 10.0 Explanation of deductions for execution Assuming that the judges took (2) -0.1 deductions and (1) -0.05 deduction and realizing that the execution penalties no longer have a 0.05 deduction, the minimum deduction for execution for this routine would now be 0.3.

Lack of a dance series and no element mount and appropriate (Difficulty plus Execution Scores) 15.7 9.775 FIG Scoring System Comparison NOTE: This explanation of the new scoring system reflects the set-up at FIG events, including the Olympic Games, World Championships and World Cups. The number of members on the two juries may be different at events not conducted by the FIG, which is how it has been done in the past. The scoring mechanism and processes remain constant throughout, but the number of judges used on the juries may be changed. As the system is used, the FIG may make adjustments as needed, which has been done in the past with other changes. Old system Gymnast's Score Score for each gymnast is determined by adding together the score for the routine's content (Difficulty Score) and execution (Execution Score). Each routine was given a start value, and the actual score was the total of credit given for the routine minus deductions for execution. The highest score possible for each was determined by the start value, with a maximum of 10 points. Start value Is now part of the score determined by A Panel, which also includes connection value and element requirements, which vary for each apparatus.

Start value was determined by the elements included in the routine, as well as added value for connections and other bonuses. The base start value for the elite level was 8.8 for women and 8.4 for men. The maximum was a 10. A Panel The two-person panel that determines the Difficulty Score or the maximum difficulty and content value of each routine. Only the highest level judges are eligible for this panel. The two-person panel that determined the start value of each routine. Only the highest level judges were eligible for this, which usually included members of the technical committee. Was called Jury A. B Panel Made up of six judges, B Panel awards scores based on execution, technique, composition and artistry. This is the panel size for FIG-conducted international events; it may vary at domestic events. Made up of six judges, Jury B evaluated a routine based on execution, technique and artistry. Difficulty Score: difficulty and technical content score The Difficulty Score includes points for difficulty value, connection value and element group requirements. A Panel determines this for each routine. This score was basically the equivalent of the start value. For men, this accounted for half of the score and was referred to as the difficulty score. It was determined by an A panel.

Difficulty value (part of Difficulty Score) Gymnasts are awarded points for the 10 highest elements, including the dismount. The difficulty value of an element is not recognized if it fails to meet its technical requirement. Skills are now divided into seven groups, A through G, for women and six groups, A through F, for the men. Difficulty value is part of the Difficulty Score. Point valuations for skills and categories have been revised. The start value was comprised of the base score plus bonus, which came from connections and values. For the men, this was called the difficulty score and was broken into Difficulty and Bonus Points. For men and women, skills were divided into six groups for difficulty, A through Super E. Connection value (part of Difficulty Score) Is included in the Difficulty Score. Men may earn connection value in three of six events (floor, horizontal bar, still rings), and women do so in three of four (balance beam, floor, uneven bars). Credit is only given if the skills are performed without a fall or doesn’t meet other established criteria. Connections are valued at either 0.1 or 0.2 points. Was included in the start value. Men had connection values in five events, and the women in three.

Credit was only given if the skills were performed without a fall, or for women, if they had less than 0.3 in deductions. Element Group Requirement (part of Difficulty Score) Each apparatus has five identified element groups and each of the five element groups is awarded 0.5 pts, with a maximum of 2.5 available. This does not apply to vault. Was the requirement for the base start value. For the men this is the same as the last Code with the exception that each element group was worth 0.1. Execution Score: Execution, composition, artistry Tallied by B Panel, gymnasts are awarded a score based on execution, artistry, technique and composition. The score starts at 10 and deductions are made for faults in execution, composition and artistry of presentation. The highest and lowest judges' scores are dropped. The remaining four are averaged, with neutral deductions taken from the average for the Execution Score. Deductions range from 0.1 for a small violation to 0.8 for a fall. Judges evaluated routines and made deductions for faults and errors.

This portion, which started at zero and added the deductions, was subtracted from the start value to determine the gymnast's score, which had a cap of 10. Deductions ranged from 0.1 for a small violation to 0.5 for a fall. B Panel B Panel is the six-person panel that evaluates routines for execution, composition, technique and artistry. Each judge starts with 10 and then makes deductions for any committed faults in those areas. Jury B functioned very similarly but did not start at 10 for the scores. Instead, they tallied the points and deductions. The highest and lowest judges' scores were dropped; the remaining four were averaged and then subtracted from the start value to reach the gymnast's score. The highest attainable score for a routine was determined by the start value; the maximum available was 10. Neutral deductions (deducted from Execution Score) Neutral deductions are given for stepping out of bounds, violating time requirements, attire or podium violations, etc. These deductions are subtracted from the sum of the Difficulty and Execution Scores. Neutral deductions were about the same; these were applied after the two juries had made their determinations.

The deduction for errors varied and ranged from 0.1 to 0.5. Inquiries A coach may inquire verbally about the Difficulty Score to the chief A Judge immediately following the posting of the score or before the completion of the performance of the next gymnast. A Panel will conduct a video review, if necessary. If there is still a question, a written inquiry must be submitted to the chair of the Superior Jury by the start of the next rotation. A financial fee accompanies the inquiry, which is returned if the inquiry proves correct. If not, the fee is donated to the FIG Foundation. This procedure is covered in the Code of Points. The system was basically the same, but it was not written in the Code and did not include a filing fee. Also, video review was used by the women but not by the men.

Superior Jury A 10 Isn’t Necessarily Perfect in New Scoring System for Gymnastics - The New York Times The New York Times Olympics |A 10 Isn’t Necessarily Perfect in New Scoring System for Gymnastics Search In one of the most memorable moments in Olympic history, the American gymnast Mary Lou Retton received a perfect 10.0 on her vault at the 1984 Los Angeles Games to clinch the all-around title. No gymnast will repeat that feat at the Beijing Games, guaranteed. The gymnastics scoring system based on a top mark of 10.0 will not exist at these Olympics. The system, which had been in use for about 80 years, was replaced two years ago with one that has no ceiling. Some gymnastics purists, including Retton and her former coach, Bela Karolyi, are still mourning. At the United States women’s Olympic team selection camp in July, Retton explained why she “hates” the new scoring. “It’s hard to understand,” she said. “I don’t even understand it.” Nostalgic for the old system, she said: “It’s simple.

People get it, and you don’t have to explain it. Everybody could relate to it. I miss it, and I think other people will, too.” Continue reading the main story Karolyi was less genteel about losing the perfect 10.0: “It’s crazy, terrible, the stupidest thing that ever happened to the sport of gymnastics. How could they take away this beautiful, this most perfect thing from us, the one thing that separated our sport from the others?” Advertisement Continue reading the main story Spurred in part by the judging errors at the 2004 Olympics, the international gymnastics federation, known as the F.I.G., changed the system to better differentiate one gymnast’s routines from another’s. Gymnasts now receive separate marks for degree of difficulty and for execution in each event. The two are added to obtain the overall score, which usually ranges from 14 to 17 for top-level gymnasts. It is only possible, but not probable, for a gymnast to score a 10.0 in the execution appraisal.

“At first, it was very hard to make the transition, but now I think we’re used to it, even though the fans might not be,” said Chellsie Memmel, a member of the United States women’s team. “I do think a lot of people who watch these Olympics might be kind of confused.” The new system is heavy on math and employs two sets of judges, an A panel and a B panel, to do the computations. Two A-panel judges determine the difficulty and technical content of each routine. Six B-panel judges score routines for execution, artistry, composition and technique. The A-panel judges’ scorecards start at zero, and points are added to give credit for requirements, individual skills and skills performed in succession. The A panel counts only the gymnast’s 10 most difficult skills, which are ranked from easiest to most difficult (from A to G for women and from A to F for men). An A-level skill, like a back handspring in the floor exercise, is worth one-tenth of a point. The value increases by one-tenth of a point for each subsequent level, meaning a B-level skill is worth two-tenths and an F-level is worth six-tenths.

Required elements add a maximum 2.5 points to the score. Extra points, either one-tenth or two-tenths, are given for stringing skills together. Each judge adds the marks, then the two reach a consensus. Elite gymnasts usually have a difficulty score in the 6s; the toughest routines will have difficulty scores in the high 6s or 7s. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Nastia Liukin of the United States team, for example, performs a routine on the uneven bars that has a sky-high difficulty value of 7.7. Her father and coach, Valeri Liukin, crunched numbers last year to invent the complex, high-scoring routine. He did the calculations on a Post-it before handing it to his daughter at practice one day. She gasped. “I was like: Wow, you want me to do all of that? Is that possible?” Nastia Liukin said. “But then I realized that I need to do all that with this new scoring, if I even want to think about a gold medal. I said: OK, cool.

I’ll learn it.” At the United States championships in May, Liukin nailed her performance and scored a 17.1, the highest score by any gymnast from the United States since the system changed. She said she expected to score even higher at the Olympics. Liukin could do just that if she is able to pull off the routine, which is filled with risky skills. At her best, Liukin seems as if she is weightless as she floats above and between the bars. Photo Mary Lou Retton during her perfect performance in the floor exercise in the Olympic individual all-around finals of the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Credit Lionel Cironneau/Associated Press “In one segment, back to back, she does six D or E elements, which is pretty amazing,” said Pat Panichas, a United States gymnastics judge who will be working the Olympics. “That’s why her start value is one of the highest, if not the highest, anywhere. The system rewards difficulty. “But the mistakes are also more costly.” Which is where the judges on the B panel come in. They rate the execution, artistry and technique of a routine, starting at a score of 10.0 and deducting for errors.

Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up Privacy Policy This score, called an execution score, is where the perfect 10.0 still exists. But reaching it is unlikely. A slightly bent knee can be a deduction of one-tenth of a point. A more drastically bent knee can cost three-tenths. In this system, the deductions jump from one-tenth to three-tenths to five-tenths. A fall costs a gymnast eight-tenths. In the old system, a fall was a five-tenths deduction. Advertisement Continue reading the main story The highest and the lowest of the judges’ scores are thrown out. The remaining four scores are averaged to obtain the final B-panel score. On the scoreboard, the final score appears in big numbers, just above the gymnast’s marks for difficulty and execution. “I like it because it separates the good gymnasts from the really, really good gymnasts,” said Paul Hamm, who was confirmed as the true Olympic champion in the all-around at the 2004 Athens Games — after two months of scoring controversy.

The new scoring system came about after the Athens Olympics, in which the South Korean team said that its gymnast Yang Tae Young — not Hamm — deserved to win the gold medal. The South Korean federation filed a protest two days after the medal ceremony, saying that Yang’s routine on the parallel bars had been mistakenly underscored by a tenth of a point. The South Koreans insisted that the extra tenth would have moved Yang into first place. Two months later, the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that the medal belonged to Hamm, who will miss these Games with a hand injury. It said that the judges would have had to review the results of the entire all-around competition, not just Yang’s, to determine if the outcome would have differed. The South Koreans also filed their complaint too late. And in the new system, the time limits remain the same. If a coach protests a difficulty score before the next gymnast competes, then officials will review the routine. If a dispute lingers, a written request for inquiry must be submitted before the start of the next rotation. Under the new scoring system, if coaches have a problem with an execution score, they can do nothing. No inquiries or protests are allowed.

“It’s still not a perfect system,” said Martha Karolyi, the United States women’s national team coordinator. “It’s still judges deciding to give a credit to a skill or not. It’s still going to have errors because human beings are making the decisions.” Advertisement Continue reading the main story Some coaches say that the system was put in place too hastily after the Athens Games, and that it does not address many of the problems that cropped up there. Some have said that this system has its own problems, which include putting an emphasis on more challenging routines. Miles Avery, who coaches Paul and Morgan Hamm, said the new system might encourage some athletes to perform perilous routines before they were ready. “The possibility is there that athletes will think, I’ll put so much difficulty into my routine that it won’t be possible for anyone to catch me,” Avery said. “That’s when people get hurt.” Some gymnasts seem willing to take the chance more than others. The Chinese national team has routines with very high difficulty — so high that the team is already ahead of every other, on paper, before the Games begin, said Ron Brant, the United States men’s national team coordinator. The more daring the routine, the greater the risk that errors will be made.

“When nerves kick in and the pressure is up, it tends to even things out,” Brant said. In the new system, some events are more valuable toward the team total than others. For the men, the difficulty values for the vault and the still rings are usually higher than for other events. On the women’s side, the balance beam and the uneven bars usually have higher difficulty values. For Bela Karolyi, it is unnecessarily complicated. He recounted his first 10.0. Nadia Comaneci finished her initial routine on the uneven bars at the 1976 Games. The judges saw it as flawless and awarded the first perfect score in Olympic history. “I had tears in my eyes because it was so gorgeous,” Karolyi said. A version of this article appears in print on , on Page D1 of the New York edition with the headline: Gymnastics Scoring Puts No Limits on Perfection. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe Check out Slate's complete coverage of the London Games. Romanian gymnast Larisa Andreea Iordache during the women's qualification of gymnastics at the London Olympic Games on July 29.

Photo by BEN STANSALL/AFP/GettyImages The 2012 Olympic Games in London will use a relatively newfangled system for scoring gymnastic routines . The revamped rules, which debuted in Beijing in 2008, make an athlete’s artistry less important than her ability to string together loads of technically difficult moves. Today’s system has also eliminated what used to be the pinnacle of gymnastics achievement: the perfect 10. Four years ago, Jordan Ellenberg argued that the new scoring was more in line with the Olympic spirit of “faster, higher, stronger,” and he advised lovers of the perfect 10 to get over it. His original piece is printed below. Olympic gymnastics has a new scoring system, and not everyone's happy with the departure of the famous 10-point scale. "It's crazy, terrible, the stupidest thing that ever happened to the sport of gymnastics," wailed excitable supercoach Bela Karolyi in the New York Times. "How could they take away this beautiful, this most perfect thing from us, the one thing that separated our sport from the others?" Advertisement What exactly is Karolyi kvetching about?

This year, competitors get two scores, each from its own panel of judges. The "A" score measures the difficulty of the routine. A relatively easy move like a one-handed cartwheel on the balance beam adds 0.1 to your A score, while bringing off the astonishing Arabian double front layout rakes in 0.7. (And no, you can't inflate your score by doing 10 cartwheels in a row; only the 10 most difficult elements are counted, and repeated elements don't count at all.) Performing two or more elements in close succession tacks on "connection value" of up to 0.2 points per transition. The way to max out your A score, then, is to cram the toughest possible moves into your routine and pack them as tightly together as you can manage. The downside of all that: In the middle of your painstakingly computed, ultra-difficult, absolutely seamless routine, you might fly headfirst off the end of the beam. That's where the B panel comes in. The B score starts at the top of the scale rather than the bottom, and every mistake takes you further from a perfect 10.0.

The new system imposes a kind of mandatory minimum sentencing; after years of complaints about unobjective scoring, judges on the B panel now have less discretion about how many points to deduct for a given miscue. The standard penalties are also harsher than they used to be—a fall that would have cost a half-point in Athens now means a 0.8-point deduction. That's why American gymnast Nastia Liukin's botched dismount at the end of Sunday's brutally difficult uneven bars routine—a routine specifically designed by her father to ring up a massive A score—dropped her back to fifth place, behind several less ambitious competitors. Get Slate in your inbox. The final tally is the sum of the A score and B score; since the difficulty of the current batch of Olympic routines tops out in the 7s, you can expect medal-winning scores to be somewhere in the 16s. And that's one thing opponents of the new system don't like. "A perfect 16.9" lacks the ring of "a perfect 10." "It's hard to understand. I don't even understand it," Mary Lou Retton told the Times.

"Back in the old days you'd know what that means," sniffed NBC commentator Tim Daggett (himself the recipient of a 10.0 on the high bar in the 1984 Games) after watching China's Yibing Chen score a 16.275 on the vault. Advertisement But would you really? Under the old system, a 10.0 didn't mean "perfection"—the score for a flawless performance was computed by adding difficulty bonuses to a fixed "start value" (8.4 for men, 8.8 for women) up to a maximum of 10, then taking deductions for mistakes. An easier routine, carried out perfectly, might get a 9.6 instead of a 10. In other words, the old system was a lot like the new system. If anything, the new scoring is easier to interpret: A B score of 10.0 is synonymous with absolute perfection while the old unified score was an impenetrable combination of pluses and minuses arrived at only after Talmudic contemplation of the FIG's Code of Points . But let's not focus on those details.

As in most emotional disputes about numbers, people aren't arguing about precisely how the number is calculated but what it symbolizes. How we measure something reflects, and eventually influences, what we value in it. And in that view, the new scoring system really does represent a profound change. Scales with a hard upper limit, like the old gymnastics scoring or the SAT, say that what's important is the pursuit of perfection. The goal of the SAT is to blacken the right bubble for every last one of those inequalities and analogies, and you can do no better than getting every one correct. Open-ended scales, like the new gymnastics system, value innovation and the breaking of existing barriers. You can't imagine men's weightlifting, say, being scored on how close you came to clean-and-jerking 550 pounds, with every pound above that not counting toward your score. That's because the goal of weightlifting isn't to approach a predetermined ideal. The goal—primal, simple, and satisfying—is to hoist a more awe-inspiring heap of metal above your head than the other fellow. Or, better yet, to hoist more than any other fellow in history.

There are some Olympic sports in which an upper limit might be more appropriate than in gymnastics—in sprinting, for instance, where today's fastest runners may actually be very close to the absolute physical limits of human ability. There is some mark in the 100-meter dash that's the equivalent of getting all the questions right on the SAT—you just can't do any better. I asked Peter Weyand, a professor of kinesiology at Rice and an expert on human locomotion, how far away that ultimate limit was from the current world record. Like a good scientist, Weyand declined to make a precise prediction. But the scenario he presented for serious improvement in sprinting verged on the science-fictional, involving a drastic enhancement of the density of type IIX muscle fibers , achieved via cloning or extremely fortunate mutation. It doesn't seem a bad guess to say that the sprinters in Beijing, not the gymnasts, are the ones for whom "perfection" is an appropriate metric. Advertisement The same goes for other track-and-field events highly dependent on sprint speed. This write-up from the American Institute of Physics explains how to use the conservation of energy to estimate your maximal possible pole vault from your top running speed.

If we plug the current 100-meter world record into the formula, a vaulter who's 2 meters tall (about 6-foot-7) would have a maximal clearance of 6.5 meters—not so far above Sergei Bubka's world record of 6.14 meters. You want to grade pole vaults by their nearness to 6.5 meters, with deductions for inappropriate music or a bounce on the landing? No objection here. Gymnastics, by contrast, isn't constrained by simple applications of Newtonian mechanics. Gymnasts can perform moves that no one's carried out before—that no one ever thought of carrying out before. Now, the sport has a scoring system that's built to reward that. In theory, yes, there's still an upper limit. There are only so many different possible elements in a routine and only so many possible connections between them, and each one, at least for now, is worth at most 0.7 points. But this new upper boundary is less like a perfect SAT score than a 1.000 batting average: a limit so far out of reach it might as well be no limit at all.

"The new 'open-ended' scoring system was designed in part to prevent us from outgrowing the rules," international gymnastics judge Judy Schalk told me via e-mail. Before the new system, just about all elite competitors performed routines difficult enough to bring the start value up to a 10.0; sailing over that threshold earned you no more points than barely clearing it. With the new system, gymnasts have the incentive to keep making their routines tougher and more complex. In every other sport, the competitors in Beijing are superior to their predecessors and get better scores to prove it. Why should gymnastics be the only sport without world records? With the new system, gymnastics comes into compliance with the Olympic motto. That's "faster, higher, stronger," not "more graceful, more beautiful, closer to perfect." It's no coincidence that the Olympic sports that have historically chased the latter ideal are the same ones in which the women's game overshadows the men's: gymnastics and figure skating. Advertisement Figure skating ditched the perfect 6.0 after crooked judging in the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics embarrassed the sport.

The old scoring system already had many discontents, most famously great French champion Surya Bonaly, who showed her disdain for the judges at the 1998 Olympics by landing a backflip on one skate . It was illegal, it carried a mandatory deduction, and she was the only woman in the world who could do it. If the judging controversy in figure skating is any guide, don't expect gymnastics to enjoy a smooth transition into the new era. Some people think skating's new system has bastardized the sport, forcing all competitors to adopt the same intricate and high-scoring combinations of moves, tougher without being better. "A triple Axel with two fingers into the skater's nose would definitely be more difficult than the usual triple Axel, but could we consider that an improvement?" asked former Olympic judge Sofia Banchetti Garbato in an open letter to the International Skating Union president . (Note: The triple nasal axel is not currently an ISU-sanctioned element.) On the other hand, the second-place finisher in this year's men's world championship complained that the new system didn't offer enough points for difficult jumps , thus encouraging skaters to turn in perfect but less demanding programs.

The new gymnastics system is substantially simpler than the one figure skating adopted, and the effect is likely to be clearer: more difficult routines, more athleticism, less focus on beauty and presentation. Dance elements count for much less, spectacular flips and dismounts for much more. "The artistic value is further repressed in the quest for more difficulty," says Schalk. And that's for the best. Right now, gymnastics fans look back to the flawless performances of Nadia Comaneci and Mary Lou Retton and say, "How can gymnastics survive without the perfect 10?" But the next generation of fans, watching their heroes smash one another's records with ever more spectacular physical feats, are more likely to ask a different question: "How did gymnastics survive without the golden 17?" Olympic Women's Gymnastics Rules & Judging By Amy Van Deusen Updated November 20, 2015. Even with its complicated scoring system, gymnastics is a great spectator sport. Here’s the lowdown to help you enjoy watching it. Scoring The Perfect 10. Women’s gymnastics used to be well-known for its top score: the 10.0.

First achieved in the Olympics by gymnastics legend Nadia Comaneci , the 10.0 marked a perfect routine. A New System. In 2005, however, gymnastics officials did a complete overhaul of the Code of Points . Today, the difficulty of the routine and the execution (how well the skills are performed) are combined to create the final score: The difficulty (“D”) score starts at 0.0 and increases with every difficult skill performed. The execution (“E”) score begins at a 10.0, and the judges deduct for errors in performance such as a fall off the beam or a step on the landing of a dismount. In this new system there is theoretically no limit to the score a gymnast can achieve. The top performances right now are receiving scores in the 15s, though it varies a bit from event to event, with vault typically scoring the highest. continue reading below our video Profile of the Olympics Gymnastics Judging Process A 16 is an exceptional score. This new scoring system is considered controversial by many who felt the perfect 10.0 was an integral part of the sport.

Others in the gymnastics community have expressed concern that the difficulty score is weighed too heavily in the final score, and therefore gymnasts are attempting skills that they can’t always complete safely. Judge for Yourself Despite the intricacies of the Code of Points, it’s easy to distinguish great routines from good ones without knowing every nuance and skill value. When watching a routine, be sure to look for: Good Form and Execution : Even when performing difficult skills, a gymnast should always look in control, and when performed at its best, each skill should look effortless. Good form in gymnastics includes pointed toes, straight arms and legs, and a tightness throughout the body. Every movement should look planned. Height and Distance: In flips, jumps, leaps, and other skills, the gymnast should look as if she is exploding off the apparatus. In release moves on the uneven bars , the gymnast should be flying high above the bar, not simply skimming over it, and release moves should be caught with arms more straight than bent. (The gymnast's body or head should not come in close to the bar on catch). On vault , the distance a gymnast travels from the horse and the height she reaches above the horse is a factor in her final score.

A Stuck Landing: On vaulting, tumbling passes, and when dismounting the balance beam and uneven bars, the gymnast should end her routine with a “ stuck landing ” -- she should not move her feet once they hit the ground. In tumbling passes on floor, the gymnast used to be allowed to do a lunge back out of her final skill, but that is now a deduction. So you'll see gymnasts attempt to stick their tumbling passes -- or sometimes do a jump or dance move at the end to avoid having to stick. Uniqueness of the Routine: A great gymnast will perform a routine that looks different from her competitors. It will have something special about it – risky tricks, an artistic flair, or skills that are simply unique from others performed in the competition. Explaining The New Olympic Gymnastics Scoring System | StickItMedia Explaining the New Olympic Gymnastics Scoring System Posted on 29 July 2008 by admin The era of the Perfect 10 is now officially over.

Many gymnastics fans will soon experience the International Gymnastics Federation’s (FIG) new scoring system for the first time when they tune into the 2008 Beijing Olympic gymnastics coverage. The new system is based on two separate panels of scores. The A panel judges the requirements, difficulty, and connections of a routine. The scoring starts at zero and then adds points accordingly. The B panel judges the execution of a routine, and the scoring starts at 10 with points deducted accordingly for execution and for any applicable violations such as stepping out of bounds or being over the time limit. The two panels are then added together for the final score. Fans will soon see good scores such as 15.75 instead of 9.5. A very good score will range in the 15s and 16s. What’s to make of this change? FIG decided after the 2004 Athens Olympics to make the change to allow greater separation of gymnastics scores. Now gymnasts will be rewarded and not punished for having more difficult routines, provided they are executed well.

We may well remember Alexei Nemov’s beautiful swan song high bar routine at the Athens Olympics in 2004, and the judges’ score that displeased the crowd enough for many minutes of booing. Perhaps incidents like that triggered the need to reward the exciting and the new in gymnastics. Yet a gymnast with less difficult routines can benefit by having higher B panel scores to make up for his lower A panel ones. A clean, sharp routine, excellently executed, can beat out a show-stopping routine with many deductions in it. Some of the best routines are the ones that make gymnastics look easy. Do the gymnasts like the new scoring? Actually, Paul Hamm and his twin Morgan used the new scoring system to determine whether or not to return to the sport after taking a couple of years off to get their college degrees. Paul felt that the new system would indeed help him, because he always has a good deal of difficulty built into his routines. Many young club level gymnasts and their coaches have felt the need to add difficulty to their routines to get higher scores. There is definitely a payoff for taking on risk and successfully executing harder routines. Do the fans like it?

Overall, once they get used to the new numbers, fans seem to find the scoring now to be less subjective and the numbers more meaningful than before. The new scoring system has been in place since 2006. The 2007/2008 club season was the inaugural season for using the new system, but only for Levels 8, 9, and 10. The system will be expanded for the 2008/2009 season to include Levels 5 through 7 as well. Initially, it will be frustrating to make historical comparisons in performance, but soon perhaps there will emerge a consensus conversion from the old score references to the new. The biggest benefit to the Olympic gymnastics audience will be to finally know why one guy scores far less than another.

Read More: Most 10 scores at Olympics: world record set by Nadia Comaneci July 18, 2008 Most 10 scores at Olympics: world record set by Nadia Comaneci [July 18] MONTREAL, Canada--With a total of seven perfect ten scores at Montreal 1976 Games, Olympic legend Nadia Comaneci set a world record for the most 10 scores at a single edition of the Olympic Games. She captured the hearts of the world and became the first gymnast in history to know what it's like to be perfect- setting also the world record for the first award of a score of perfect 10 at an Olympics Games gymnastic event. World Record Academy will send to Nadia a special Gold-Sealed World Record Certificate and her name will be listed for ever in all our future Book of World Recordss. July 18 is also declared by the Records Academy as the World's Records Day, a day to remember one of the most beautiful evolution in the history of Olympics. Before 1976, no male or female had ever received a perfect score in any Olympic gymnastics event.

And then came Nadia Comaneci, all 4-foot-11, 86 pounds of her. The 14-year-old Romanian dazzled the judges in Montreal to the point where they couldn't help but give her a perfect 10. And they didn't stop there, for not only did Comaneci receive the first perfect score, she then proceeded to get six more! ABC Television set her performance to music, using a theme from a popular American soap opera, and the song was eventually renamed "Nadia's Theme". Times magazine posted huge photo of Nadia in front cover page, "She's Perfect!" with a very small photo of the the first photo of Mars... 14 years old Nadia Comaneci became the only person shown in the cover page of Time, Newsweek and Sports Illustrated magainzes at the same time, not to mentioned millions of press and magazines covers around the world. The record breaking moment came with Comaneci's performance on the uneven bars. However, the judging equipment was not equipped to display the four digits of a 10.00 score, so the scoreboard simply showed 1.00.

The crowd soon understood the meaning of the score when the announcer declared, "Ladies and gentleman, for the first time in Olympic history, Nadia Comaneci has received the score of a perfect ten," reported Septima Green in Top 10 Women Gymnasts.The perfect gymnast bitting the perfect machine! Nadia Comaneci earned a total of seven perfect ten scores at those Olympic Games. She won three gold medals for the all-around competition, uneven bars, and balance beam. She also won a silver medal for the team competition and a bronze medal for the floor exercise. Four of her seven perfect scores, including the first one, came on the uneven bars, which as you might imagine, was one of the three events Comaneci struck gold. But it was on the balance beam that she truly showed off her skill. The beam is considered one of the most difficult Olympic events, with gymnasts performing pirouettes and backflips on a beam measuring just four inches across. All Nadia did was record three more perfect scores and her second gold medal. Comaneci became the first Romanian to win the all-around title and she was also the youngest all-around champion at 14 years old.

Once Comaneci broke the barrier, it became easier over the years. Then, after the 1992 Olympics, those 10s disappeared. Not one has been scored in major international competition since. Bela Karolyi, maybe the most internationally famous coach and booster of the sport, believes that maybe a perfect 10 is really more than just a number. "It gives the flavour and spice to the sport that we need so much. Just the recognition of the performance," he said. That moment almost surely won't be repeated this year, or anytime soon. The perfect 10 has slowly, perhaps sadly, filtered its way out of gymnastics, a victim of increased difficulty in events, tougher judging and, some critics say, maybe some hard-headedness and ignorance among those who run it. "Actually, I think they thought there were too many 10 scores," said Karolyi who, along with her husband Bela, coached Comaneci and Retton during their perfect-10 moments.

Where perfection used to be something that could be sensed or felt, as well as seen, it is now something that must be measured according to the rules of the very strict, very long, very complex Code of Points to which each judge and gymnast must adhere. In the past, gymnasts used to strive for a perfect 10; these days, they strive to develop a routine with a "start value" of 10, meaning it could conceivably earn a perfect score if it were done flawlessly. U.S. champion Carly Patterson said no gymnast she knows ever goes out there thinking about scoring a 10 these days. "You'd have to be beyond perfect," she said. In 1989, Nadia Comaneci defected from Romania and settled in North America. She has since married American Olympic gymnastic medallist Bart Conner. Comaneci is active in many charities and international organizations. In 1999, she became the first athlete to be invited to speak at the United Nations to launch the Year 2000 International Year of Volunteers.

She is currently the Vice-Chair of the Board Of Directors of the International Special Olympics and Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Muscular Dystrophy Association. In the world of gymnastics, Nadia Comaneci is the Honorary President of the Romanian Gymnastics Federation, the Honorary President of Romanian Olympic Committee, Ambassador of Sports of Romania and a member of the International Gymnastics Federation Foundation. In 2006, Thirty years after Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci wowed Olympic judges at the Montreal Olympics, a tribute to that "Perfect 10" performance, made by "ShanFan" (Heather Gibson)-a US gymnastics fan, has been beamed toward the stars via the Deep Space Communications Network. Deep Space general manager Jim Lewis said in the news release. "The way we see it, if there is someone out there receiving radio waves from this planet, Earth is getting some pretty bad press. Basically, they'd be seeing what we're seeing on the evening news: war, famine, strife and struggle.

Perhaps now they will see there is also unmatched beauty and grace on our little green ball as well." Nadia's husband for Sports Illustrated: "Everyone wants to remember her as this 14 -year-old, ponytailed little girl. She's not that anymore." ...But for those who saw her in '76, she always will be. Nadia comaneci-first perfect ten in history (1976 Montreal) - YouTube Nadia comaneci-first perfect ten in history (1976 Montreal) Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Uploaded on Jul 2, 2007 The first perfect ten routine in the history performed by nadia comaneci during the team compulsories.(edited by me). Category THE McKayla Maroney Vault London 2012 - YouTube THE McKayla Maroney Vault London 2012 Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist.

Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Sep 5, 2012 Score: 16.233 (Highest score of the Olympics) Difficulty= 6.500 + Execution= 9.733 = 16.233 The 9.733 is also the highest execution score given to a gymnast since the new scoring system began in 2006. (In big competitions like worlds or the Olympics) Best Vault ever!! Deserved the 16.500 That was a perfect 10. Category Gymnastics Gymnastics The first women's gymnastics instruction in the United States was given at Mount Holyoke College in 1862. Olympic gymnastics competition for women was introduced at the 1928 games.

Larissa Latynina of Russia won 18 Olympic gymnastic medals, thus setting an Olympics record for women: nine gold medals, five silver, and four bronze between 1956 and 1964. Marcia Frederick was the first American woman to win the World Gymnastics Championship. She won in 1978 on the uneven bars. Olga Korbut of the Soviet Union inspired thousands of girls to take up gymnastics after she won two gold medals and one silver medal in the 1972 Olympics. She was later named Female Athlete of the Year. In the 1976 Olympics, Nadia Comaneci of Romania became the first gymnast in Olympic history to score a perfect 10.0. She did this on the uneven bars. She went on to record six more perfect scores during those Olympics. In 1984, 16-year-old Mary Lou Retton of West Virginia won the Olympic gold medal in the Women's All-Around event, thanks to her perfect performance on the vault. She was the first American to win that event. Shannon Miller is now the most decorated female American gymnast of all time.

She has seven Olympic medals altogether, two gold, two silver, and three bronze. Only three American women, swimmers Jenny Thompson , Dara Torres , and Shirley Babashoff, have more Olympic medals. Kerri Strug provided us with one of the most exciting events of the 1996 Olympics and gymnastics history when she nailed her vault on an injured foot to insure the gold medal for the United States team. Strug was just one member of the gold medal winning team that is known as the “Magnificent Seven.” The others are Amanda Borden, Amy Chow, Dominique Dawes, Shannon Miller , Dominique Moceanu, and Jaycee Phelps. In the 2004 Olympics, 16-year-old Carly Patterson of Texas became the second American ever to win the Women's All-Around event. She was the first to do so in a year when the Olympics weren't being boycotted by other countries. Patterson retired from gymnastics in 2006 due to lower back problems and a desire to become a recording artist. Her first single, "Temporary Live/Ordinary Girl," will be released March 25, 2008.

At the 2012 London Olympics, the American women's gymnastics team won its second gold medal ever, with Gabby Douglas leading the U.S. to a 183.596 score; Russia finishes second with 178.503 for the silver; Romania wins the bronze with 176.414. Kerri Strug

Question: What is a perfect score in gymnastics
Answer: Ten